


Cage the Devil

by Lady_Oscar



Category: Daredevil (TV), Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: First Meetings, In Media Res, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Sexual Tension, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11865546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Oscar/pseuds/Lady_Oscar
Summary: Luke Cage runs into the Devil of Hell's Kitchen himself one night.





	Cage the Devil

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this immediately after finishing Luke Cage in the fall of 2016, forgot about it, and then remembered it again when I started watching The Defenders, as one does.

As Luke prepared to cross the metal catwalk, another man appeared out of nowhere. Luke quickly took stock of the man, who was wearing a suit of dark red and black body armor, including some peculiar cross between a mask and a helmet. 

“The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen,” Luke muttered to himself. He supposed that it was inevitable he would run into the vigilante at some point, but it was quite another thing to encounter him in person. 

“They’re coming,” the other man said just loud enough for Luke to hear. 

“How do you know?” Luke asked. 

Before he could answer, the henchmen appeared with their guns out and let the bullets fly in the direction of Luke and the other man. 

Luke walked straight toward them, and the men kept shooting at him, apparently ignorant of Luke’s abilities. Luke simply took their guns and bent them like they were thin pieces of wire; the thugs who still had their weapons dropped them in surprise and ran back the way they came. 

Balling his hands into fists, Luke faced the doorway and waited for more of the men to reappear. 

“They’re gone,” the man in red said. 

Luke turned around. He had momentarily forgotten the other man, who was now slowly walking away with a hand held to his side. Luke watched as he made it another few steps and suddenly collapsed to the floor with an audible thud. 

Luke jogged over to where the man had fallen and kneeled down beside him. 

“Hey, hey, wake up,” Luke said. 

The man remained unconscious, and as a precaution Luke decided to remove the man’s mask. He took a step back and pursed his lips hard to keep from whistling -- he hadn’t expected the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen to be this young looking or to have such a pretty face. 

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he examined the man’s side. He discovered there was a hole in the man’s uniform several inches above the man’s hip and where the thick fabric had been there was an angry red wound that was beginning to bleed. Luke realized a stray bullet must have struck him but not gone into him since there was no obvious bullet hole. Luke sighed; he didn’t know the man aside from the lurid headlines about him, but he couldn’t just abandon him either - after all, he had warned him about the gunmen. 

Luke took his hoodie off so he could tie it around the man’s waist as a crude bandage. He picked up the brunette as gingerly as he could and said a silent prayer of thanks for the cover of nighttime while he carried the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen himself to his apartment. 

*** 

Having returned home otherwise unhindered, Luke carefully laid the man in red down on his bed. He carefully untied the hoodie still wrapped around the man’s waist and examined the wound. It would have to be cleaned, and Luke wondered if he should call Claire. Just then the man came to and tried to sit up before groaning and grabbing at his side. 

“Where am I?” he asked and then frantically ran his hand over his face as he realized his helmet was gone. 

“Don’t move,” Luke cautioned. He put a firm hand on the man’s shoulder and tried to push him back down. “You’re safe for now.” 

“Oh it’s you,” the man said. “Who are you?” 

“My name is Luke,” he replied calmly. “Do you know what happened to you?” 

“I got struck by one of the bullets,” he said. “I should have gotten away, but I got distracted. You walked right toward them and the bullets just bounced off of you. I never heard them go in...” 

The man gave him a faintly accusatory look, and Luke noticed then that the brunette’s brown eyes were slightly unfocused although he was not acting like he was concussed. Luke tucked that detail in the back of his mind to ask about later. He watched as the other man finally lay back down all the way and stared at the ceiling with a frown on his face. 

When it was clear the man had no more to say, Luke shrugged and went to search for a clean washcloth and a bowl to fill with water, which he found and brought to the bedroom. 

“This might hurt,” Luke said, trying to keep his voice light as he wrung out the washcloth. 

The other man gave no response and Luke interpreted that as permission to tend to him. 

As Luke cleaned his wounds, he couldn’t help but notice the other man’s physique; Luke noted his fine muscles and wondered about his various scars … where did they come from and also, how they would feel under his fingertips. Luke frowned to himself because he had no idea where these thoughts were coming from. Not that he hadn’t occasionally been attracted to men, but pretty white boys weren’t exactly his type. Still there was something about this man lying on his bed… 

“Hey, thanks for …” the brunette said softly after a while, bringing Luke out of his reverie. 

“It’s no problem,” Luke answered. “Do you have a name?”

“Yeah, it’s Matt,” he said with resignation and offered his hand for Luke to shake. 

“Nice to meet you, Matt,” Luke said and shook the proffered hand. He couldn’t help but crack a smile over the out of place gesture.

The mood between them considerably changed, Luke finished cleaning Matt’s injury and bandaged the wound as best he could with the items he had on hand. He really should have called Claire, Luke thought to himself. 

“I think that about does it,” Luke said out loud and started gathering up the items on the bed. “You’re welcome to to spend the night here.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” the other man said. 

“Listen, Matt … there’s something wrong with your eyes,” Luke said gently. “Do you think you hit your head or something?” 

A small, strange smile appeared on the man’s face and was gone immediately. “No,” he answered.


End file.
